1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a stroller or baby carriage for transporting or carrying a baby. It particularly relates to a mechanism for self-supporting and self-maintaining a folded body of a baby carriage when the body is folded up so to be stored in the folded state.
2. Background of the Invention
Taking a baby or an infant out in the open air for a walk or for sun-bathing is necessary for the baby or infant to grow up healthy. It is, however, very uncomfortable for a guardian of the baby or infant to hold or carry the baby or infant in the arms or on the back, respectively, of the parent for a long time on one hand. On the other hand, it is never desirable, for a growing baby or infant, to be kept in a rigid posture for a long time.
To eliminate those inconveniences, baby carriages have been developed and a number of excellent improvements have so far been worked out in those baby carriages.
Those baby carriages for carrying babies, as represented by bassinets, were intended as their initial main object to carry babies while laid on their side in the baby carriages. Carriages were then developed so that babies can be carried as if they are sitting on a chair.
Through those improvements, the baby carriages have also been so designed as to be portable to thereby make it possible to carry the baby carriages into public traffic systems such as a subway. The baby carriages which had been used merely near the home have thus been made available for outings over a long distance.
Though the folding mechanism of a baby carriage as mentioned above is advantageous also from the viewpoint of saving household storage space for the baby carriage, the folding mechanism is sometimes subject to an accident where the folded state of the baby carriage changes its expanded or unfolded state unexpectedly due to mechanical vibrations or other mild shocks.
It is our daily and frequent experience that such an accident as described above occurs particularly remarkable in traffic vehicles continuously accompanied by vibrations, such as a bus. A quick solutionof this problem stands required in the field of baby carriages.
A specific arrangement of a known baby carriage will be described hereunder with reference FIGS. 1 to 3 which, in fact, primarily illustrate the baby carriage of the present invention. In the conventional baby carriage, a stopper S for maintaining a self-supporting mechanism is interposed between the upper end of a stoppage-maintaining bar 6 and the lower end of a handle bar 3. By the engagement between the stopper S and the stoppage-maintaining bar 6 the interconnection between the stoppage-maintaining bar 6 and the handle bar 3 is fixed substantially in an inverted L-shape in side view. Thus, the folding operation is made impossible while the fixed, unfolded state thus made is maintained. When folding up the baby carriage, the fixed state is released by disengaging the interlock between the stopper S and the stoppage-maintaining bar 6 to thereby enable the whole of the baby carriage to be folded up.
A prior art reference which discloses another example of a known arrangement in which the stopper mechanism is so arranged as to be linked with the upper end of a stoppage-maintaining plate, is Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 25980/1981.
It has however been pointed out that these known arrangements have such disadvantages as follows.
Since the position of the stopper mechanism S is too high, when a parcel basket 10 is folded up (refer to FIG. 2), the folded parcel basket 10 overlaps a frame 101 which supports the parcel basket 10 to thereby make it difficult to carry out the operation of releasing the interlock between the stoppage-maintaining bar 6 and the stopper S. Further, there is a danger that fingers of the baby or the user can enter between the handle bar 3 and the frame 101, or the like.
There is another danger that erroneous releasing of the stopper S may be carried out by folding of the parcel basket 10.
Furthermore, since the parcel basket 10 has a large volume, there is a further danger that the stopper S may be erroneously released by mistake when articles are placed into or taken out of the parcel basket 10.